The Best Restaurants in Montreal Right Now

Montreal gets approximately five new restaurants per person per month, and we love telling you about them -- but just because it's new doesn't mean it's automatically great. That's why we have Eat Seeker, our regularly updated list of the best restaurants in the city right at this very moment. Never be left wondering where to eat tonight.

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Petite Italie

After garnering enough praise for its dinners to last chef Brian Peters a lifetime, Salmigondis decided to venture into brunch and lunch territory, somehow becoming even more popular in the process. The hefty price tag says a lot about the quality of fare served here, where you'll find dishes like deer tartare, gnocchi bursting with umami, piglet bavette, and a damn good steak plate.

Outremont

A market-driven restaurant with a daily changing menu and plates that are as beautiful as paintings, Provisions has captured the hearts of diners and critics since coming onto the scene with its August 2015 soft launch. Come prepared to share, or go for a prix-fixe menu.

Griffintown

First making headlines with its peanut-butter and foie gras sandwich, Le Fantôme has gone on to prove that its whimsical spirit and attention to detail extends much further than revamped cult classics. Come here for beautiful dishes that are playful and elegant at the same time.

Griffintown

Modern Italian food with a relaxed, but upscale hipster vibe is the purview of this little Griffintown restaurant. Add to that an excellent wine list and one of the most affable chefs in town, and you’ve got yourself a winning formula.

Plateau

A popular gastropub that is as appealing at nighttime as it is during brunch. The playground of Chef Derek Dammann, Maison Publique serves inventive dishes paired with some of the city’s best wines. Just don’t come here looking for Buffalo wings.

Mile End

Lili Co. has been on a roll pretty much from the moment it opened two years ago. And with gorgeous Italian-inspired plates, a carefully selected wine list, and eye-popping décor, its continuing success is no surprise.

Saint-Henri

It’s now been a few years that the Satay brothers have been offering their expertly made Singaporean fare to hungry Montrealers, and the lines just keeping going around the block. Its food is vibrant, fragrant, and cheap, and they're making laksa a household name in Quebec.

Petite Italie

The newest restaurant from the Toqué school of New Quebec cuisine is more accessible in cost, without sacrificing any of the style and aplomb that made the food styling famous. It’s a hot place in an unlikely venue, and we love it for that.

Saint-Henri

Sumac has been open a little more than a year, but already garnered a following that would be impressive for a glitzy dinner club, let alone an affordable Middle Eastern eatery. We blame it on the combination of authentic dishes, the heavy yet balanced hand chef Raquel Zagoury has with spices, and those addictive French fries.

Outremont

After a devastating fire destroyed its previous location, most expected Damas to close its doors and take its excellent Syrian food elsewhere. However, when the restaurant reopened, it surprised everyone by serving bigger, better, and bolder dishes that bolstered its reputation and catapulted it into new heights of fame. Now, Damas is experiencing a renaissance, and you’d be mad not to give it a try.

Petite Italie

Critic-favourite La Récolte has progressed from being a popular brunch spot into the realm of farm-to-table dinners. Fresh ingredients, careful execution, and a flare for the avant-garde make this restaurant this summer’s hottest joint.

The Gay Village

Possibly the most precious of the current-best restaurants in Montreal, Le Mousso’s is chef Antonin Mousseau-Rivard’s modernist playground. Each dish here is visually stunning, eclipsed only by the unusual flavours -- a perfect place to bring a date you really, really want to impress over a seven-course meal in a warm, intimate environment.

Saint-Henri

3734 Épicerie Comptoir quickly rebounded after being vandalized in its early days and captured our attention with comfort foods like kimchi hot dogs, bacon grilled cheese, and its house-made charcuterie platter. Nowadays, tables are tightly packed almost always, so you’d be well advised to be ready to peruse its grocery store aisles while you’re waiting for a seat

Griffintown

Though its name is a nod towards Nordic cuisine, don't expect a menu of hard-to-pronounce Danish words here. Hvor's ethos is driven by what's local and seasonal, an homage to Quebec farmers, and the most arresting view is what’s on your plate. And with a name that asks 'where,' it’s clear that Hvor’s answer to the question is 'right here.'

Centre-Ville

Quietly, slowly, without too much fanfare or ostentatious headlines, Boullion Bilk has been making a name for itself as the best restaurant in Montreal. With a loyal following, tons of collective expertise, and a newly-redesigned space, this elegant restaurant is capturing the hearts and stomachs of food-savvy Montrealers. Get there for lunch to order the turkey confit (!) poutine.

Plateau-Mont-Royal

A part of the newly opened Museum of Jewish Montreal, Fletchers is more than just a run-of-the-mill museum café. It’s a repository of stories, lost Jewish traditions, and foods your bubbe only vaguely remembers. The gefilte fish sandwich here is hot, the rosewater-laced sweets are fragrant, and you may never want to leave.

Gay Village

When Montreal indie darlings Arcade Fire announced they were opening a restaurant, many eyes were rolled across the city. Fast forward a few months later and Agrikol is already impressing how important its Haitian offerings -- the only restaurant cooking this cuisine in the city -- to Montreal. Come for popular and authentic dishes like oxtail and accra fritters; stay for the generous rum cocktails and tropical decor. It’s clear that this place has some bona fide chops.

Petite Italie

Santa Barbara continues to riff off authentic European food with skill, flair, and an attention to detail that is usually reserved only for fine dining. This small hot spot is anything but pretentious, though: The portions are huge, the menu is ever-changing, and the salad nicoise is incredible. And you simply can’t pass up a taste of the restaurant's cocktails -- the bar program has been making a name for itself throughout the city.

Downtown

Upon first blush, the marriage between Peruvian cuisine, with its quinoa and corn, and Japanese, the mecca of simple and clean flavours, may seem like a tenuous one at best. But once you enter the bright world of Tiradito, taste Peruvian-style sashimi, and sip on an expertly concocted pisco cocktail, you too will be forced to leave your skepticism behind.

Ville-Marie

It doesn’t get much more irreverent than when the restaurateurs behind two of the best fine dining establishments in the city (Taverne F, Ferreira Café) decide to open a fast-food Portuguese chicken joint. But the food is so delicious that we're inclined to turn a blind eye to any/all infractions.

Ville-Marie

In just a few short months, Executive Chef Carlos Flores has been able to position Emiliano’s as the place for high-end, authentic Mexican cuisine. Come here for the most refined tamales and cactus salad of your life.

St. Henri

One of Montreal’s newest late night hotspots is proving itself as more than just a place for good-looking people to come drown their sorrows in cocktails. The tartare here is excellent, but it’s the massive burgers and the hearty boeuf Bourguignon that have really captured our hearts at this French-American diner.

St. Henri

Jewish food is having a moment in Montreal. In fact, it’s been having a moment for the past several years, but it may have reached its zenith with the opening of Arthurs Nosh Bar, an elevated Jewish deli experience that pays homage to New York's Russ and Daughters with home-smoked fish, big white plates, and cured meats that were just meant to be paired with a sharp pickle.

Griffintown

The hipster revolution has made things like an all-organic menu, house-churned ice cream, and smoked butter sound like curse words, or at the very least bits from a Portlandia skit. But Foxy, the newest space from the team behind Old Montreal favourite Olive et Gourmando, does it all with style, grace, and a dedication to seasonal and delicious offerings that leaves us satisfied and distinctly unironic.

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